Kitty Kibbles (author notes): Okay, I know this one was rrreeeaaallllllyyy long and that it was kinda stupid but I needed it to lay down the basics, sorta. I didn’t mean to make RTT out to be bad and I have nothing against him except that I don’t find him a particularly attractive cat as most kittens would. Yes, it’s the same Phyillda Crowley Smith from the video. It might seem stupid but I felt like being stupid :) Anyway, kitties, please give me feedback. I hardly got
ANY from my last time and I’m starting to think that maybe writing this story was a bad idea but I’m not sure . . . Anyway, hope you enjoyed and please give me ANY comments at all. I’m only a few keys away at wizzard@qx.net ;)
Victoria’s sensitive ears heard a thump sound from outside. She softly padded along and gently scratched the door with her claws. Her “pet”, James, came along after a while and opened the door for her, not noticing the ball of wet fur outside.
“Close the door when you come back in okay Vicki?” asked the seven-year-old in a definitely English accent. She nodded her head in acknowledgment and stepped outside to investigate the strange thump, but stopped immediately with one paw raised in the air when she spotted a white, wet ball of fur. She gingerly walked around the kitten and sniffed at it. “She must have been at the airport,” she thought, smelling leather and luggage scents emanating from the kitten. After taking a few moments to collect her thoughts, Victoria gave a graceful shrug and picked up the kitten and took it inside, just remembering to close the door. She moved quickly through the house and finally came to her sleeping basket where she gently put the kitten, deciding to take it to see Munkustrap in the morning.
In the morning Victoria took the still sleeping kitten by the scruff of the neck with her teeth and trotted off to the junkyard where Munkustrap usually came for a morning walk. The gray tabby crawled out of a car window when he saw the approaching feline with something in her mouth.
“Hullo Victoria!” he meowed, being much more informal since the Jellicle Ball had come and gone for another year.
“Hello Munkustrap,” she replied, after placing the kitten on the ground.
“What have you got there?” he asked, his curiosity piqued when he saw that it was a kitten.
“Well last night I heard something strange and came to investigate it and . . . .” So, Victoria began telling Munkustrap the events of the night before.
Meanwhile, Jemima was on the prowl. She woke up and immediately set out for the junkyard to play with Etcetera. When she arrived she grinned evilly, bunched her haunches, and launched herself into the air in Munkustrap’s direction yelling, “Geronimo!” The tabby heard a shout but then found himself sprawled on the ground under Jemima. He playfully swatted her away. Jemima proudly trotted over besides Victoria, still smiling smugly. Then, she noticed the kitten at Victoria’s feet. She glanced several times at Victoria and the kitten, and then it happened. It started as a snicker, then a giggle, and finally erupted into a roar of laughter.
“What?” Victoria asked, slightly perturbed at Jemima’s mysterious reaction.
“Vic *snicker* I never knew *laugh* you had it in you *choke*!” Finally Jemima recovered and asked somewhat calmly, “So whose is it?”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about!” Victoria said in an exasperated tone. She didn’t know why Jemima thought this was so funny. She found a white kitten and brought it to see Munkustrap, that’s all!"
“Oh c’mon Victoria. Just tell me, stop hiding the truth. Everyone will know sooner or later so tell! Is it Mistofelees’ or Alonzo’s?”
“Huh? . . . oh!” Victoria exclaimed, finally getting the jist of what Jemima was asking. “It’s... it’s not like that at all Jemima!”
“Oh sure. Yeah. Whatever. Just spit it out Vic.”
“Jemima, she’s telling the truth,” Munkustrap interrupted, still laughing at the exchange between the two. “She found this kitten on her doorstep and brought it here. Though I can see what you mean Jemima.” He smiled and then gently tried to nudge the kitten awake.
Malachi felt someone bumping her awake and thought it was one of her human companions. She meowed as a reflex and continued sleeping. Begrudgingly she finally awoke as the nudging continued. She opened her eyes sleepily, staring at each cat in turn. Eventually she realized that she didn’t know any one of these cats and backed up frantically, hair standing up on end and claws extended.
“Whoa, it’s okay. We’re here to help you. Victoria found you and helped you last night,” Munkustrap said gently and gestured to Victoria.
“Who . . . who are you?” Malachi asked in a quiet, fearful voice.
“Munkustrap.”
“Victoria.”
“Jemima.”
The white kitten’s eyes finally settled on Victoria. Malachi slowly retracted her claws and straightened up into a more dignified pose. “My name is Malachi.”
“Well, Malachi, today Victoria AND Jemima will show you around, and you’ll get to meet some of the other cats.” Munkustrap looked at the two and trotted away from the speechless cats. Jemima was the first to regain her wits and walked in front of Victoria.
“Hey there. C’mon, we’ll show you around.” Jemima said, bounding off. Malachi glanced at Victoria who followed Jemima at a slower, more graceful pace. Malachi mimicked Victoria and followed the two off into the depths of the junkyard.
“Well hello!” echoed a cry from somewhere around the top of the junkyard. All three looked up and were startled when Mr. Mistofelees walked up beside them and asked, “What’re you ladies looking at?”
“Ack!” both Jemima and Victoria screeched in surprise. Malachi look slightly startled but nothing else.
“Mistofelees,” Victoria said, sitting up straighter and brushing out her whiskers, “You know better than that.”
“Hey Misto, “Jemima said, pushing Malachi before him, “we’d like you to meet Malachi.”
Mistofelees looked several times between Victoria and Malachi before grinning and sliding up besides Victoria. “Whose the lucky cat?” he winked at her shocked face.
Victoria’s jaw dropped and her eyes clouded over in anger. Jemima collapsed laughing, and Malachi sat in the middle of the three cats with a confused look on her face. She had been asleep when Jemima had first brought up the topic.
Victoria thought for a second and then decided to turn the tables. “Y’know Mistofelees, she looks very much like you, like a miniature Mistofelees.” He quickly stopped laughing and saw where this was heading. “In fact,” she continued, “she’s almost an exact replica of you!” Victoria now had him backed up against a car trunk and Jemima just stared at them laughing.
“Now wait just a minute-”
“No but’s Magical Mr. Mistofelees. I guess your ‘magic’ just got a little out of hand didn’t it?” She smiled evilly and him, sat back, and watched him squirm under her intimidating gaze.
“Excuse me,” Malachi whispered. “Mr. Mistofelees? Is it really you?” she asked coming closer.
Now everyone stopped and reality did a few flips and flops for Jemima, Victoria, and Mr. Mistofelees. Victoria was just playing when she had said that stuff, she didn’t realize that she had hit so close to home.
“Remember me?” Malachi asked excitedly. “Malachi? Your niece?”
“Wait . . . you aren’t HER are you?” Mistofelees asked, his brow furrowing in concentration while trying to remember where he had seen this kitten before. She obviously knew him but to say she was his niece... “Hey! I remember you! You’re the puffball Fathom always talked about!”
“Yep. Mom talked a lot about you too.” The kitten pounced on Mistofelees and purred happily.
“Could someone fill me in here?” Jemima asked.
“This is my niece. Heh, no wonder we look alike! She’s my sister’s kitten! Y’know, she and I were the only magical cats in our litter. What about you Malachi?”
“I’m the only one in my litter too, I think. Persephone showed some talent but it faded after a while.”
“Well, let’s get going. You have to meet some of the other cats.” Mistofelees smiled and began to lead her off.
“Wait, what about them?” she asked, referring to Victoria and Jemima.
“Well, do you guys want to come with us?”
Victoria shrugged elegantly and began to follow the two. Jemima declined politely and ran off to find Etcetera and play.
The three black and white cats padded softly along with Mistofelees in the lead. He spotted Rum Tum Tugger bathing on a car top and with a few words Mistofelees transported them onto the car and with shock woke the tiger stripped cat.
Rum jumped off the car and flashed his eyes around angrily, looking for the evil perpetrator that had so viciously ‘attacked’ him. His eyes finally settled on the laughing Mistofelees and his troupe. Tugger forced his muscles to relax and scoffed disdainfully at the three. He surveyed the three and realized that there was a new kitten with them. One that strangely looked like a Mistofelees and Victoria mix.
He smiled smugly and sidled up to Mistofelees, “Congratulations. I never knew that you two had it in you-”
“Tugger,” Victoria said, roughly cutting him off, “this is not my kitten. This is Mistofelees’ niece, Malachi.”
Tugger took a step back and reassessed the kitten. He smiled cunningly as millions of thoughts bombarded his head. “Quite a cutey. Hmm, Mistofelees’ niece eh? Hee hee, this could definitely be fun.” He brushed out his whiskers and swaggered over to the kitten, circling her and finally flopped an arm over her shoulders. “Hi there. I’m Rum Tum Tugger,” he winked. “Listen, why don’t I show you around. I know lots of cats and the coolest places . . .”
Mistofelees saw directly where this would be heading if he let Tugger have his niece. In a puff of smoke he vanished and appeared directly in front of the cat and kitten.
“Where do you think you’re going with my niece?” he asked, planting his paws firmly in front of them.
“Just relax Misto. I’m going to help show her around the junkyard and introduce her to some other cats. Don’t worry so much, besides, it’s bad for your health. Now, Malachi-”
“No Tugger. You’re not going ANYWHERE with MY niece.”
Victoria leaped over to where they were and watched the scene play itself out with increasing amusement. That, however, quickly turned to worry when she saw Mistofelees extend his claws. She looked at the kitten who was stuck between the tomcats. Malachi sensed what was going on and had now acquired terrified look on her face that begged Victoria to help. Feeling sympathy toward the young one she quickly intervened.
“Now, you two stop this immediately. I don’t think Malachi likes this situation any better then me. Tugger, this is Malachi’s first visit with Mistofelees ever. Let them spend the day together okay?”
Tugger grudgingly obliged and left, but not before he winked at Malachi and gave her a quick nuzzle.
Mistofelees felt Victoria’s paw on his shoulder. Though not a great amount of pressure was put in it, the simple gesture helped Mistofelees keep control of himself. When Tugger had left, he looked at the white cat with gratitude and settled back down, retracting his claws. She smiled back and checked on the kitten.
“Are you okay Malachi?”
“Yeah, so can I meet some of the others now?”
Victoria laughed at the kittens enthusiasm and replied, “Sure. C’mon.” She leapt gracefully down from the car and waited for the other two to follow.
Mistofelees walked over to Malachi, snatched her up in his jaws despite her protests, jumped down and gently set her on the ground.
“Mistofelees’!” Malachi complained. “Stop that! You don’t have to carry me. I’m not that young. I could have made that jump.” Malachi puffed out her chest and replied indignantly.
He laughed and said, “Sure.”
That night, Malachi stayed with Victoria since Mistofelees had some business to take care of. The day had been long and eventful. Everyone had mistaken her for the offspring of Victoria and Mistofelees and some of the conversations had been pretty . . . interesting. She had met everyone that day, except for Rumpleteazer, Mungojerrie and Macavity. No one had said anything nice about him so she hadn’t bothered to ask anything about him.
Victoria had had lots of fun introducing the young kitten to everyone. “Except for the fact that we looked alike and everyone thought that Malachi was my and Mistofelees’ kitten,” she thought on a sour note. She looked down at the tired kitten who gamely plodded home to her house in the Chelsea neighborhood, refusing to be carried. Victoria thought that Malachi was a wonderful kitten. She had been very polite, had a personality that was spellbinding, and had shown excellent manners when dealing with the others. “Yes,” Victoria thought smiling, “Malachi is a wonderful kitten.” She led the way into the backyard and into the house. Malachi, too tired to jump, used up the last of her energy to teleport herself to the other side of the fence. Then she collapsed onto the ground. Victoria was at the pet door when she heard a thump.
She turned around and saw that Malachi had collapsed. She smiled, shook her head, and went back to bring in the kitten. She picked her up by the mouth and gently laid her down when they got inside. She went to her basket and daintily laid down.
Malachi felt the coldness of the hard floor and immediately woke up, slightly. She saw the blurry outline of Victoria and tottered over to the basket, crawled in, and burrowed under Victoria’s paw where she fell asleep. Victoria stiffened, unused to sleeping with anything. She forced her muscles to relax and soon fell asleep with a smile on her face.
Malachi woke up alertly, completely rejuvenated from the other days activities. She turned around to see the huge face of a giant cat.
“RRREEEEEEEOOOOWWWERRRR!!” she screeched, jumping back and trying to run along the slippery kitchen floor. Carried by her momentum she slid across the room and ungraciously crashed into the kitchen wall.
Victoria woke up when she heard the screech and watched Malachi crashed into the kitchen wall. She burst out laughing and fell out of the basket when she threw her head back. By then, Malachi had gotten up and began gathering her shattered dignity. The kitten exploded into laughter and said, “You should have seen the look on your face! BWAHAHAHAHA!!!!!!”
The older cat jumped into the basket and decided punish Malachi’s unruly behavior by not letting her into the basket. The kitten quickly caught onto Victoria’s scheme and pounced on the white cats head yelling, “Rid’em cowboy!”
Completely taken off guard by this Victoria tossed her head around, screaming while trying to dislodge the kitten. Finally, they settled on a truce and got ready for another trip to the junkyard. Malachi was especially looking forward to seeing Mistofelees again. She wanted to hear him tell her stories about her mother.
Malachi had been born in a junkyard and had been orphaned when, after three months of time with her litter, she had been captured by the Humane Society. She had magically hidden her nest and had enchanted all the kittens, hoping that one would be able to carry on the family trade of magic. Malachi had seen her mother taken off and had decided to get integrated with some families that she could retreat to if the H.S. ever came after her. Now that she had the chance, she wanted to learn as much as possible about her family.
When they reached the junkyard Rum spotted them immediately and swaggered over. ‘Why hello.” He flashed a grin and winked at the kitten. Malachi, remembering what her uncle had said, acted like she didn’t notice the gesture, and when she saw Jemima immediately scampered off.
Rum looked at the retreating figure of the kitten with shock. No one had ever brushed him off before and he didn’t plan to make this the first time either . . .
“Forget her Rum,” Victoria said, cleaning herself beside Rum. “Mistofelees has a very short tolerance of you with her and told her to stay away from you. I think that if you act very civil and don’t stir up trouble that things might settle down, but watch yourself.” She gave him a quick nuzzle and sedately followed Malachi.
Rum sat down angrily. “Who does Mistofelees think he is trying to stop me like that!?” he fumed. “Hmph. This will just hinder things for a while. Maybe Vic’s right. If I lay low and don’t arouse suspicion then maybe, just maybe...” He smiled, pleased with himself and slunk away into a darker corner of the junkyard.
Malachi used her powers and materialized just above Jemima, landing with a plop on the cat. Jemima knew who it was when she heard the hiss of smoke and readied herself for the impact. Jemima grinned and laughed at the kitten’s scintillating energy. She rolled over on top of the kitten and pinned her down.
“Now that ay’ve got ‘er cap’n, what shall we do wi’ ‘er?” she asked in a pirate voice to Pouncival, who was right next to her.
“Throw ‘er over board!” he grinned, imitating her. He grabbed the kittens back legs and they made to throw the squirming feline overboard when suddenly they all heard a loud laugh coming from behind a car. Malachi used her powers and teleported out of her precarious position and onto the ground next to Victoria, who had become one of her favorite cats. She stuck her tongue out and buried under the laughing older cat.
Mungojerrie and Rumpleteazer jumped out carrying two heavy sacks in their mouths. “Well, the junkyard is certainly eventful tonight,” Rumple purred. She pitter-pattered over to Jemima and asked, “Whose the newbie?”
“Looks like a Vicki and Misto combo. A number three please,” Mungo teased.
“It’s NOT like that!” Victoria insisted.
The mischievous pair laughed in unison, dropping down to meet the new one. After being formally introduced they were told Malachi’s story and quickly apologized, well not exactly, for poking fun at them. Malachi took an instant liking to the pair and decided to stick with them for the rest of the afternoon. Victoria wasn’t sure that it was such a good idea and was sure that Mistofelees didn’t want his niece to become a criminal but what choice did she have? She couldn’t out right refuse her, could she?
While Victoria’s mind was occupied the young kitten quickly made good use of the time and slinked off after Mungo and Rumple. Jemima and Pouncival were too occupied with each other to notice the small animal’s disappearance. Malachi appeared in a puff of smoke in front of the two and said cheerfully, “Hi.”
The pair stopped in surprise and looked at each other, grinning like hyenas. “You wanna come with us Malachi?” Rumple offered.
“Sure!” Malachi smiled widely and began walking in between the two cats. She looked at the two and noticed how they walked and mimicked it, grinning mischievously and pinning her ears to her head. The two looked at each other smiling. They both immediately liked this kitten.
The kitten had an unusual interest in adventure and seemed to fit in well with them.
The older cats led her to an unlit house and immediately began snatching stuff and filling their bags. Malachi wondered about what she should do, but finally settled on watching the pair at work. Rumple and Mungo suspected that she wouldn’t partake in their business but that was fine with them. It was fun just having another cat along with them. Suddenly a light from a headlight outlined Malachi’s form in the window and they all three heard a “Hey!” shouted from someone outside. Mungo yelled for Malachi to follow them but the kitten was blinded by the lights and could just barely see the edge of the shelf she was on. The person charged into the house screeching in a definitely female voice, “Scat! Get out of here!” Malachi, temporarily blinded by the lights, shrank into the corner of the room and hissed at the woman.
“Well, what have we here? A white Kitten . . .” The woman came forward. She was of medium height and had long blond hair. She grabbed a blanket on a near-by chair and started forward. Malachi hissed and tensed her muscles.
“I can’t use my powers!” she realized, panic rising. “She’s a human. I can’t let them know!” Malachi was spared the trouble of thinking of an escape plan when she was surrounded in darkness. She felt the wool blanket encompass her and lashed out, hoping that she would make contact with the vile human.
The woman groaned as she heard the phone ring, stating, “Why do people always call at the worst times?” She cautiously took the hissing cat with her over to the phone. “Hello? Phyillda speaking. Hi, well, I’ve kinda got my hands full. I found some strange cats in my house and got one. Well, I was thinking of taking this one to the people who deal with stray animals but I think I might keep her. I know she’ll have to get a collar and shots but I think I would be neat to have a pet. What? Oh, I think it’s a ‘her’. Anyway, I’ll see you tomorrow okay? Cherrio.” The woman kept a firm hand on the kitten and wondered what to do with the stray animal. “Oh well,” she shrugged, “I always wanted to have a pet.” She shut the kitten in the laundry room after spreading some paper and left to go to the pet store.
Malachi listened to the conversation and felt the terror of her mother’s kidnapping clamp around her heart. When they woman tossed her into the laundry room she gave one long, remorseful cry and hoped that the others would come for her.
